Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Last rites
by Alex Ziebart 
Jan 30th 2009 at 2:00PM
Another day, another Queue! Let's jump right in, hm?
meme asked...
What's the situation about the aesthetic minor glyphs? Could we see them in a future? What's the last thing Blizzard told us about them? Are people in the official forums still demanding them?
We haven't heard anything about this in awhile, but last time we heard about it they wanted to avoid using glyphs for aesthetics. It basically boils down to a choice players shouldn't have to make in that situation: Do I want to look pretty, or do I want to maximize how effective I am?
If they make big aesthetic changes or options, we'll probably see them in a different way. A barber shop sort of deal, rather than a glyph or an enchant. A lot of people still want the aesthetic minor glyphs, yes, but it wouldn't be a good solution in the long run.
Jonny Dale asked...
My subscription runs out on the 31st January, and I don't plan on resubscribing. I've made my mind up about quitting, but I was just wondering if there's anything I really should do before quitting? I'm a level 80 undead warlock with mainly heroic gear with the odd epic. I don't have time for raiding, but have done all the heroic instances. So is there something I really ought to experience before my WoW life comes to an end?
If you've done all of the dungeons and Heroics available to you, I would look to quests. There are a lot of key chains in Wrath of the Lich King that really make the experience. The first of those would be the Death Knight starting quests, naturally. They're pretty amazingly well done.
After that, make sure you've seen the Wrath Gate event (spoilers) in the Dragonblight, and the Sons of Hodir chain in Storm Peaks. There are a whole lot of great quests in Wrath, but those three chains in particular are ones I think everyone should do.
If you haven't done so yet, try out Wintergrasp and Strand of the Ancients. Even if you don't like PvP, they're worth seeing at least once or twice.
Those are my personal, very simple recommendations. Hopefully our readers will give you a few more ideas in the comments below today, like they were doing yesterday. You should go back and check those out, by the way. There were a few good ones.
jared.daniels asked...
What ever happened to the proposed Death Knight spell that put the enemy into a dark bubble that would deal damage to them when they were healed? I heard a lot about that spell early in the expansion days, but it just.. disappeared. Any idea why this was turned down?
Ooooooverpowered. You can only really put so much anti-Healing in the game before you kill healing utterly. This ability would have been crazy, crazy powerful, so it wasn't used. Death Knights can still remove HoTs (without proccing Lifebloom's bloom) with Plague Strike, but that's the extent of it.
Darksbane asked...
When flying from Dalaran to the Basin when I pass in front of icecrown citadel I start getting pulled in. Almost like i"m hitting an invisible 'soft' wall. I can fly through it if I change my direction but if I try to fly in a straight line it will gradually pull me in. Also my flight form will screech. What is that?
There are invisible walls that try to push you off course from flying over Wintergrasp. They'll push you toward a slightly more safe route, so you don't AFK fly over Wintergrasp (a no-fly zone) and get knocked off your mount, plummeting to your death.
(Note, 'plummeting to your death' was hyperbole. I know you get a parachute. Yeesh.)
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column! Leave your questions in the comments and we'll do our best to answer 'em!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, PvP, Death Knight, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 6)
Rob Jan 30th 2009 4:48PM
Depends on your definition of fun. Alot of people play their 80s and grind faction (do dailies), do the PVP battlegrounds, or work on reputation stuff. There's alot to be done at 80, but if you are only interested in leveling, then go level :)
Also consider rolling on the opposite side. They have some different quests and starter zones. I'm not sure what percentage of quests are same or differnt, but probably 50-80% of quests in 'shared' zones like northend zones are shared. So that's a bunch of quests that are brand new to you.
Beware the netherdrake isn't easily obtainable. The dailies are pretty bad in the beginning, gets better as time goes on (and also they nerfed the early rep dailies). One of the best quests of the game is a netherdrake daily: Booterang.
Aaron A. Jan 30th 2009 5:29PM
"should I fess up and get a flying mount or spread the wealth and get my 60+ alts the 100% riding skill?"
You never quite explain /why/ you can't do raids or gear up for Heroics, so I have to be a little vague. Long story short, being able to fly will enable you to earn money and get things done much faster. I heartily support getting basic flight as soon as possible, and then epic flight as soon as you can afford it. The upfront costs are substantial, but there's nothing compared to the convenience, cost savings, and improved efficiency of having your own flying mount.
Me myself personally, I saved every copper I earned while leveling, so I had more than enough cash on hand for flight at 70, and Cold Weather flight at 77. Then at 80 I worked my DK's tail off for several days, then raided my other characters' pockets to scrounge up 5,200g for epic flight training and a snazzy red gryphon. It left me completely broke for a few days, but that new gryphon allows me to get my dailies done faster, and to clear those one-time quests that I left behind in the rush to 80. I repaid the money I'd borrowed from my alts (roughly 1,500g) in nine calendar days, and I could have done it faster if I'd had more time to play. If you're saying you currently can't fly at all, I support flight training even more strongly; many parts of Icecrown and Storm Peaks are inaccessible by ground, so you're missing out on a significant amount of content.
The most common cash reward for a high-level daily quest is 13g23s. Some are higher, some are lower, but I think that's a reasonable average if we're not concerned with finding *the* optimal route. With a limit of 25 per day, a devoted adventurer can earn 300g per day just from dailies. Beyond that, there's also material farming or cleaning up those one-time quests that I mentioned earlier (the Exp-to-cash conversion isn't what it used to be, but regular ol' questing still pays well).
On a side note, those daily quests will also help you build reputation, which will help with the Heroic and raid gearing. I did my first Heroic dressed in blue quest rewards and gear I earned at Honored/Revered with the various factions. It'll take much longer to build rep with dailies than you would by championing, but you'll get there eventually. Check the Lichborne column to see which factions have the best DK gear.
Tenchan Jan 31st 2009 4:36AM
Do you enjoy leveling your alts enough to be sure you'll get them to max level? Then always, -always- concentrate on basic flight first.
Basic flight is needed, epic flight is a luxury.
And once you have alts that can do nearly all available non-dungeon quests in the game, thanks to basic flight, you can get the gold to get epic flight for your main just by pooling it together from your alts' quest rewards, without having to resort to such time consuming activities as grinding.
blatz Jan 30th 2009 3:21PM
I don't post here very often (unless you're willing to give me some free stuffs =D) but here goes...I hadn't heard of the DK spell that would put people in an anti-heal bubble but I could see how that would be over powered....however....I would love to see something like this given to healer classes (priests come to mind) as this sounds like something a healer could throw on someone (ala arena) or onto mobs that either heal themselves or others (although there doesn't seem to be too many of those nowadays). Personally, I play a holy pally and don't need much more survivability but some priests seem to and I for one would love to see something like this...just my two coppers...
Maxbliss Jan 30th 2009 3:23PM
I have two alts and both have Skinning 450. The Warlock 80 never gets Borean leather scraps any more, but the Mage 72 gets more leather scraps than whole leather. How can this be if both have maxed skinning?
Thanks.
MechaKingGhidra Jan 30th 2009 3:40PM
This is likely due to you skinning lower level mobs on your mage. Basically, Northrend's equivalent to ruined leather scraps but without the need to have leatherworking to turn them into regular leather pieces.
BigB Jan 30th 2009 3:43PM
Probably because of the mobs you are skinning, lower levels have more scrap.
Microtonal Jan 30th 2009 3:52PM
This is sort of like wondering why your 450 miner doesn't get saronite out of copper nodes. The skin drops you get don't have anything to do with the level of your skinning skill, but with the level of the mob. It's always been that way, with every gathering skill.
Although I've often thought that it'd be a nice bonus to leveling a gathering skill if you got more stuff out of lower-level nodes the higher your skill level.
Maana Jan 30th 2009 3:22PM
(Note, 'plummeting to your death' was hyperbole. I know you get a parachute. Yeesh.)
Odd that 75% of the time I intentionally fly into wintergrasp I never get that parachute buff and end up plummeting to my death.
Balius Jan 30th 2009 4:11PM
"When flying from Dalaran to the Basin"
Stop flying from Dalaran to Scholazar. Instead, simply talk to an NPC on the landing in Dalaran, and you'll hop on a plane and teleport to the Basin, saving time and frustration at going around Wintergrasp.
reddeth Jan 31st 2009 4:58PM
This only works if you haven't done the Wizard's quest. Once you do that, he stops giving you a free ride.
zweitblom Jan 31st 2009 2:43AM
That only works if you have not completed his questline.
Jthenightelf Jan 30th 2009 4:13PM
Not really sure if this is the right place to post this, but here it goes. My question is in regards to loot etiquette. I play a resto druid and I normally raid naxx 10 with the same people every week. We always use free-rolling when distributing loot. This week leather shoulders dropped (melee) and I rolled for off spec feral. Also a Death Knight rolled for the shoulders because he had a blue dungeon piece. I beat the Death Knight on the roll. However, the Master Looter gave the shoulders to the Death Knight because he needed them for “main” spec. In my mind, since the Death Knight wears plate and he was rolling on leather gear, his roll should have been for off spec and thus I would have won the roll and should have received the loot. On the other hand, the Master Looter though that since the Death Knight would equip the shoulders immediately (whereas I would put them in my bank until I respected)then the Death Knights roll should be considered main spec and thus beat my roll. I know the Master Looter in real life and we have been arguing with each other about this for a few days now. Anyone have any opinions about how the loot should be distributed in this situation? Thanks.
lightningjynx Jan 30th 2009 4:27PM
Your Master Looter was correct. That is the one nice thing about wearing plate, if something of a lower armor quality is better for your main spec, it is up for grabs. And let me clarify before the flame war starts.
If you were in feral spec, then it would have been your main spec as well as his. But considering that you are only capable of wearing armor, it would go to you because your main spec has top priority with leather. No matter the armor type, you take it as main spec if it is an upgrade, but this only applies if the piece of loot is being passed on by those who were the appropriate type of armor.
My question to you is this: If it had been a healing cloth shoulders that were better than yours, and you rolled on it, would you want it to go to the dps shadow priest who might be healing as off-spec?
And one last thing, he is the Master Looter for a reason. He needs to do what is best for the guild, and if that means the DPS Death Knight gets a leather shoulder, than that's what happens.
/shrug
Sorry for the long post.
Kyle Jan 30th 2009 4:29PM
Personally, I'd say give it to you. If this DK is running Nax weekly he'll get his main-spec plate soon enough and should be running heroics, etc for upgrades as well.
AyaJulia Jan 30th 2009 4:39PM
It's not too hard to understand that there's an understood "in between" loot rule in most guilds. That is, there's something in between main-spec and off-spec.
For example, if a Belt of the Tortured dropped (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40260) and I was ML, I would (almost) always give it to a Rogue or Feral Druid first for main spec, then a Hunter or Enhancement Shaman for "not quite main spec but you'll equip it right this second" then after all of those people were taken care of, any boomkin/elemental shaman/etc who might want to bank it for a while.
Same would go for a Cowl of Sheet Lightning (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39295). Cloth casters first, druid/shaman/pally casters next, offspecs last.
Call it "main spec, off-armor" if you like, and while not all guilds subscribe to this policy (allowing a Rogue and Hunter to duke it out over a leather belt, or allowing the same Hunter and a Boomkin to fight over it), it's the most common that I've seen.
Rob Jan 30th 2009 4:50PM
Seconded, ML was right. Mainspec should get it before offspec.
But seriously, don't get excited about loot. Yes, its purple, and got some great stats, but Naxx is kara, and if you are going to play the game for a while you are going to be doing naxx alot over the next few years. Loot should never come between friends. Loot is always replaceable.
Sinthar Feb 2nd 2009 11:41AM
Leather for a DK - OS or not - that just not on imo. My pally does not use cloth for healing, or leather, or mail, but PLATE. If your running naxx regularly then hell get better shoulders soon (esp with the ammount of plate that drops!), leaving his leather stuff to be vendored VERY quickly. A druid would get a lot more use from it.
But its probably just as easy to grind the heroic raids for a few weeks and get the valorious shoulders from the vendor.
Personally id prefer Blizz to change it, so you only get to USE one type of armour, but this is just an idea off the cuff - and theres probably reasons why they make certain classes able to use all armour.
webrunner Jan 30th 2009 4:33PM
What about the already existing Glyph of the Penguin?
Spritetoggle Jan 30th 2009 4:50PM
I've turned out to be somewhat of a stickler for keeping on plot-lines since the expansion. In addition, I only have one character that's Northrend-worthy.
So what I'm wondering/worried about is, if I started out in Borean Tundra and wanted to go back and complete the Howling Fjord starting zone once I hit 80, will the quests still be focused as if everything was just starting out in the expansion? I'm just curious if Blizzard implemented some sort of phasing into the two zones to keep them concurrent with you character once you've hit the level cap.
Hope I explained that properly!